News
TV | Written by Andrew Pollard 20/01/2015

CONSTANTINE Getting Cancelled?

Now we hope this all proves to be untrue, but it appears that CONSTANTINE may not be renewed for a second season.

One of the biggest problems the show has recently had is that it was not picked up for a full 22-episode season order, instead being capped at a 13-episode run. It has been known for shows to still be renewed despite having their run cut short, but there’s further evidence that suggests poor John Constantine’s days could be numbered.

This last weekend’s TCA event saw NBC President Robert Greenblatt voice his concern that the show has not managed to bring in strong numbers despite airing right after GRIMM, which itself does some of the strongest Friday network numbers. It was hoped that CONSTANTINE would start delivering improved viewing figures upon returning from its mid-season break. Sadly that is not the case. The numbers for the show’s return episode, THE SAINT OF LAST RESORTS: PART 2, actually saw the viewing figures drop to 0.8 in the 18 to 49 demographic. That equates to a drop from 3.3 million viewers to just over 3 million viewers. The drop itself isn’t a worryingly huge one, but when shows are bringing in less than a 1.0 rating in the 18 to 49 demo… that’s when networks, in this case NBC, start to get seriously concerned and begin contemplating cancellation. This latest episode is the fifth time that CONSTANTINE has failed to hit the 1.0 mark.

There’s been nothing coming out of NBC to say that the show will be cancelled, but then network’s never publicly bash shows or admit that their on the cusp of being canned, largely down to that only further hitting viewer numbers for the remaining episodes.

If CONSTANTINE were to get cancelled by NBC, it doesn’t mean that the show couldn’t end up on another network. One issue, though, is that the vast SFX budget of the series could prove to be a problem for some other networks, meaning either the show would be too pricey to take a chance on or the special effects of the Hellblazer series would have to be cut back.

We truly hope that CONSTANTINE makes it through to a second season, at least somewhere, but expect to hear more on this as and when it develops.